tombeej Posted October 26, 2015 Posted October 26, 2015 I've read articles about this before: that the older you get, the more damaging lots of high intensity endurance exercise (and racing) is for the old ticker. Here's a recent article on the subject. Another article here. A 3rd article. "Regular exercise reduces cardiovascular risk by a factor of two or three. That, of course, is a fantastic benefit. BUT the vigorous demand of running a competitive marathon increases cardiac risk by seven-fold. Long-distance running also results in high levels of inflammation that may trigger cardiac events and damage the heart post-marathon running." and... "Researchers used a group of extremely fit older men who were members of the 100 Marathon Club, meaning they had successfully run in a minimum of one hundred marathons. They found that half of these marathon-lifers showed some heart muscle scarring, especially the men who had trained the longest and hardest. Some of the heart damage in super fit older athletes who live a very healthy lifestyle in all respects can be compared to the hearts of people who are heavy smokers/drinkers. I'm in my 40's now and have basically been doing competitive sports non-stop since I was a little lighty. And hard endurance type sports since my early 20's. So as I head into the 2nd half of my life expectancy, do I wind down the endurance sports and stop racing? Will my natural need for regular competition allow that? Can't see myself not exercising and racing until my old age.
Thomo Posted October 26, 2015 Posted October 26, 2015 At least you'll die HEALTHY... And enjoying yourself.Winding down/stopping is like ceasing to live right now.!
Patchelicious Posted October 26, 2015 Posted October 26, 2015 I dont know hey. You dont spend THAT much time in hectic zones. Here is my last two races HR: Satellite Classic: http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss153/Patch-elicious/HR%20Satt_zpsvdqybepo.jpg I have marked Hekpoort as reference below: http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss153/Patch-elicious/HR%20Sat%20Graph_zpshfqvttzl.jpg Sondela: http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss153/Patch-elicious/HR%20Sondela_zps9hlymatz.jpg Here I marked the 3 attacks I chased down and the point at which I was shelled, you can see lots of work being done leading up that point.http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss153/Patch-elicious/HR%20Satt%20graph_zps6adshkqz.jpg Point is, you spend most time in Z3/4 and not THAT much in higher zones...? Edit: Just a side note, interesting to notice the difference in pace line riding after Hekpoort (top) to constant effort in TT after blue line on graph below.
tombeej Posted October 26, 2015 Author Posted October 26, 2015 I dont know hey. You dont spend THAT much time in hectic zones. Here is my last two races HR: Satellite Classic: http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss153/Patch-elicious/HR%20Satt_zpsvdqybepo.jpg I have marked Hekpoort as reference below: http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss153/Patch-elicious/HR%20Sat%20Graph_zpshfqvttzl.jpg Sondela: http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss153/Patch-elicious/HR%20Sondela_zps9hlymatz.jpg Here I marked the 3 attacks I chased down and the point at which I was shelled, you can see lots of work being done leading up that point.http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss153/Patch-elicious/HR%20Satt%20graph_zps6adshkqz.jpg Point is, you spend most time in Z3/4 and not THAT much in higher zones...? The research seems to say that it's the actual distance/time of the activity that's damaging. The longer, the worse it is for you. Old guys running marathons will never be going flat out - they will go along at a comfy pace. The research is also pointing to short high intensity exercise as more healthy as you grow older. Like 30 - 45 minutes max. So as you grow older if you want to stay healthy and protect your heart, you have to become a gym bunny? Not sure I'll ever go with that.
jcza Posted October 26, 2015 Posted October 26, 2015 I'm not so sure. Every year I go for a full checkup including stress test and walk away happy. Checked my zones for Satellite and I spent a total of 9:35 in Z4 and nothing in Z5. Lost the front of the race up Hekpoort but still managed top 10. MTB races = different story.
Skubarra Posted October 26, 2015 Posted October 26, 2015 I've read articles about this before: that the older you get, the more damaging lots of high intensity endurance exercise (and racing) is for the old ticker. So as I head into the 2nd half of my life expectancy, do I wind down the endurance sports and stop racing? Will my natural need for regular competition allow that? Can't see myself not exercising and racing until my old age. Yep, I have also seen the studies on how many competitive fit older guys actually have very dodgy hearts... Think we are in a bit of uncharted territory here as we have a "cultural" change where more and more older people than in the past continue to ride/run competitively. The heart doctor I saw when I ran into some trouble myself told me he is seeing more and more fit middle aged athletes where in the past he mostly dealt with "obese couch potatoes with unhealthy lifestyles" .
Patchelicious Posted October 26, 2015 Posted October 26, 2015 The research seems to say that it's the actual distance/time of the activity that's damaging. The longer, the worse it is for you. Old guys running marathons will never be going flat out - they will go along at a comfy pace. The research is also pointing to short high intensity exercise as more healthy as you grow older. Like 30 - 45 minutes max. So as you grow older if you want to stay healthy and protect your heart, you have to become a gym bunny? Not sure I'll ever go with that.Ok before we hit a panic, on a scale of 1 to jcza what qualifies as "old"?
jcza Posted October 26, 2015 Posted October 26, 2015 Ok before we hit a panic, on a scale of 1 to jcza what qualifies as "old"? Hahahahaha.......... funny man!
Patchelicious Posted October 26, 2015 Posted October 26, 2015 Yep, I have also seen the studies on how many competitive fit older guys actually have very dodgy hearts... Think we are in a bit of uncharted territory here as we have a "cultural" change where more and more older people than in the past continue to ride/run competitively. The heart doctor I saw when I ran into some trouble myself told me he is seeing more and more fit middle aged athletes where in the past he mostly dealt with "obese couch potatoes with unhealthy lifestyles" .Could this be because back in the day very strong "supplements" were used? There is very real correlations between the stuff that was fed to athletes in the 70s and 80s being bad for the heart. People who were competitive in the 80s are now the "old dudes"?
tombeej Posted October 26, 2015 Author Posted October 26, 2015 Ok before we hit a panic, on a scale of 1 to jcza what qualifies as "old"? Well that first article I posted indicated anyone over 50 should be concerned. Don't know at what age this risk of heart muscle damage starts to manifest, but here's what the writer said: The thing that got me a ride in an ambulance from the ER to the downtown cardiac unit after my first heart incident was an elevated level in my blood of troponin, an enzyme that is released when cardiac muscles die. My theory is that micro-tearing in my heart muscle caused the release of troponin. The ER doctor attending to me was Shannon Sovndal, who was at the time a team doctor for the Garmin-Sharp team. When I poo-pooed his troponin finding as likely just being due to a hard workout, he said that whenever he tested the blood of Garmin-Sharp riders (who were all at least 20 years younger than me) after hard workouts, he didn’t find elevated troponin levels. So as we get older, perhaps we'll start having to go for troponin tests. Some (like jcza) might be just fine. I mean, my gran died in her 90's and she was a smoker most of her life (doesn't mean that smoking is not bad for you). I might be lucky and never have heart scarring. But I might be one of the unlucky ones. Either way, I'd like to know.
Skubarra Posted October 26, 2015 Posted October 26, 2015 Could this be because back in the day very strong "supplements" were used? There is very real correlations between the stuff that was fed to athletes in the 70s and 80s being bad for the heart. People who were competitive in the 80s are now the "old dudes"? Who knows? A lot of them weren't necessarily pro-athletes in their younger days/ I don't think a lot of studies have been done on this yet, at least not what I could find. My biased unscientific opinion is that we are going to see more older fit people run into heart problems as this fitness craze continues.
Mike Bike Posted October 26, 2015 Posted October 26, 2015 im with JC and ive seen a few cardiologists in the last couple years, and none have said slow down....(but im no oom)
Patchelicious Posted October 26, 2015 Posted October 26, 2015 Who knows? A lot of them weren't necessarily pro-athletes in their younger days/ I don't think a lot of studies have been done on this yet, at least not what I could find. My biased unscientific opinion is that we are going to see more older fit people run into heart problems as this fitness craze continues.Will the ratio go up though? Surely those who are fat and eat incorrectly have a greater chance of heart disease? So more people running and being healthy should correlate to a lower proportion of the population having heart attacks?
Pure Savage Posted October 26, 2015 Posted October 26, 2015 The research seems to say that it's the actual distance/time of the activity that's damaging. The longer, the worse it is for you. Old guys running marathons will never be going flat out - they will go along at a comfy pace. The research is also pointing to short high intensity exercise as more healthy as you grow older. Like 30 - 45 minutes max. So as you grow older if you want to stay healthy and protect your heart, you have to become a gym bunny? Not sure I'll ever go with that. Easy fix, just change your Heart rate zones, make your max 205bpm and then you will spend even more time at tempo. Duh
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